Haleri

Haleri lies in the wooded hills of Kodagu, the country known as Coorg. It gave its name to a dynasty that united the region under a line of rajas connected by tradition with the Nayakas of Ikkeri. The chiefs first established their seat here among the forested slopes of the Western Ghats, where many local rulers had previously held separate territories.

Muddu Raja ruled from Haleri in the seventeenth century before establishing a new royal capital at Madikeri, where he built a fort and palace in 1681. His descendants continued to rule Kodagu through conflicts with Mysore and other neighbours. In 1834 the East India Company deposed Chikka Viraraja, bringing the long rule of the Haleri dynasty in Kodagu to an end.